Within the last day or two the Presbyterian Church in America has put up their web site for the 35th General Assembly to be held in Memphis from June 12-15, 2007. The theme for the assembly will be “Then Sings My Soul.”
The web site is at:
www.pcaga.org
There was an interesting piece on NPR’s radio program Morning Edition today done by Martin Kaste about consumer “carbon offsets.” This established business practice in industry allows a company to put out more green house gases by buying some of the unused gas allotment from another company. Now there is a consumer market for these so if you are feeling guilty about causing global warming by driving your SUV or heating your house you can pay Ford or The Climate Trust or other organizations. However, you are not buying a carbon offset like industries do. Rather, your donation will be used to support projects that are environmentally friendly and usually help reduce green house gases, such as buying up old cars or helping with reforestation projects. The suggested payment is $10/ton of greenhouse gases produced or with Ford $80/year for an SUV.
OK, that’s interesting you say, but what does this have to do with reformed theology and Presbyterianism? Well, one of the people interviewed in the piece is George Monbiot who likens the new carbon offset business to modern indulgences where you can live as you like, pay your money, and your sins are forgiven. However, Mr. Monbiot also says that these consumer offsets are doing nothing to reverse global warming because what is needed is massive systemic change right away. All the offsets do is ease people’s conscience. You can read more of his view point in an October 18, 2006, article in The Guardian titled “Paying for our Sins” that promotes his new book Heat: How to stop the planet burning.
From my news feeds the media reaction seems to be mostly to the Trinity
Report. With the “Mother, child, womb” language this was probably
the most media flashy report.
Tampering with the Trinity? from the Jamaica Gleaner
Letter to the Editor in the Souix City Journal clarifying what the PC(USA) did
The God Who Names Himself in the Christian Post
Also, reaction to the Theological Task force on Peace, Unity and Purity report:
Valley Presbyterians Split on Gay Question in Daily News Record
Layman Article containing the statement by 14 renewal leaders
Ordination Leeway Opposed in the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Presbyterians Won’t Ordain Sexuall Active Gays from WashingtonBlade.com
A nice discussion on KPCC’s Air Talk with the Rev. Jack Rodgers, the
Rev. Frank Alton, and Bishop John Bruno (LA’s Episcopal Bishop) about
ordination standards. They all represent the liberal side but the
discussion is good. The show is available by podcast or RSS feed
from http://www.scpr.org/help/podcasthelp.html You want hour two of Wed. June 21
At the opening of the morning session:
A computer monitor and the stated clerk’s hippopotamus are now on the moderators podium.
The vice-moderator of Bills and Overtures commented that:
“It is a good thing that today is the longest day of the year because we will need every minute of it.”
He also elicited a chuckle when he moved to change the length of time per speaker from the floor from 3 minutes to 90 minutes (instead of 90 seconds).
And we return to the arrested report from Church Orders.
The GA has taken a short break and is now back in session dealing with the committee on church orders. After dealing with a few less controversial recommendations, they are now on the response to the overtures dealing with G6.0106b. And Cliff responds that dealing with that report does not answer overtures from the presbyteries dealing with the constitution. We have a question from a commissioner asking why if the PUP report was approved why are we dealing with this now? It has been moved to refer all of this to 2008.
The motion to refer fails.
Greetings,
I will get to the PC(USA) GA in a couple of posts, but just back from a short vacation I wanted to get some other GA Junkie info into the blog first.
This one is about the GA of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland held June 5 – 9 in Belfast. This was not web cast so my info is just from the regular media. However, the two hot topics sound pretty familiar to us presbyterians.
But first, the new moderator is Dr. David Clarke, a parish minister in Coleraine for the last 26 years. His election gained some additional press coverage because he is the brother of a former “professional footballer.” According to the news reports, two more of his brothers are also presbyterian ministers.
From the popular press reports the first of the two controversial topics was the previously approved sale of the denominations headquarters, “Church
House.” Last year’s GA approved the sale but it was held up by an increase in cost of the repair of the exterior stone work. In the last year it also appears that the wider church has developed opposition to the sale. (Commentary note: Not the first time the members in the pews have forced the reversal of a GA decision.) It appears to have been a long (2 hour) and lively debate and in the end those that favored holding on to the property prevailed by a 256-227 vote. The press release on this item can be found at http://www.presbyterianireland.org/assembly/ganews/news009.html
The other hot topic was the blessing of civil partnerships much as it was for the Church of Scotland. There was a subtle difference between this presentation and that at the Church of Scotland GA. For the CofS it was presented by the legal committee as a response to national legislation. At this GA it was presented under the Church and Society report and carried greater theological weight. Church and Society presented a resolution that expressed concern about civil partnerships and affirmed previous GA stands. It was an amendment from the floor that added the language that clergy “shall not conduct Services of Blessing for couples involved in a Civil Partnership.” The second aspect of this debate involved the church’s opposition to homophobia and the GA approved a study to be presented at the next GA on homophobia in the church and society at large. The press release on this item can be found at http://www.presbyterianireland.org/assembly/ganews/news012.html
While these three items occupy all the regular news media accounts I have seen, it is interesting to look at the official press releases from the GA and see that church internet standards, vetting of church workers for child protection, input to the Parades Commission, and an increase in the number of theological students were also presented.
If you are interesed in more on any of this the PCI web site is: http://www.presbyterianireland.org
Thanks for your interest
Blessings
Steve
At this time I am aware of the following upcoming GA’s. I know the first two will be webcast.
[Note: Some links were updated to generic links for the GA when sites were restructured and links were broken.]
Church of Scotland – May 20 to May 26, 2006, Edinburgh
For more info: http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/about_us/general_assembly
(Link has aged out)
Presbyterian Church (USA) 217th GA – June 15 to June 22, 2006, Birmingham, Alabama
For more info: http://www.pcusa.org/ga217/
Presbyterian Church in Canada 132nd GA – Begins June 4, 2006, St. Catharines, Ontario
For more info: http://www.presbyterian.ca/
Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church 202nd Meeting of the General Synod – June 6 to June 8, 2006, location ?
For more info: http://www.arpsynod.org/synod2006.html
(Link has aged out)
Presbyterian Church in Ireland – June 5 to ?, 2006, Location ?
For more info: http://www.presbyterianireland.org/About-Us/Structure-Leadership/General-Assembly
Cumberland Presbyterian Church – Birmingham, Alabama
For more info: http://www.cumberland.org/gao/
Presbyterian Church in America 34th GA – June 20 to June 23, 2006, Atlanta, Georgia
For more info: http://www.pcaac.org/2006%20General%20Assembly/06index.htm
Evangelical Presbyterian Church 26th GA – June 21 to June 24, 2006, Rome Georgia
For more info: http://www.epc.org/general-assembly/upcoming-assembly.html
Orthodox Presbyterian Church 73rd GA – June 21 to June 28, 2006, Palos Heights, Illinois
For more info: http://www.opc.org/ga.html
Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America 2006 Synod – June 26 to June 30, 2006, Geneva College, Beaver Falls, PA
I have found no specific info on the Synod
Denomination web site: http://www.reformedpresbyterian.org
Bible Presbyterian Church 70th General Synod – August 3 to August 8, 2006, Grand Island, New York
For more info: http://www.bpc.org/synod/index.html
Presbyterian Church of Australia, Next General Assembly Meeting on Monday September 10th, Scots Church, Sydney
For more info: http://www.presbyterian.org.au/